Digital Trends: Zombie games are making a comeback this year. At E3 2016, developers announced the return of Dead Rising, State of Decay, and the mother of them all, Resident Evil. However, the most interesting of them, it seems, is a newcomer. Days Gone, the PS4-exclusive open-world action game from Sony’s Bend Studio, seeks to raise the stakes of the zombie-survival genre with faster, smarter monsters, and systems that encourage players to find creative solutions for escaping them.
Responding to one user saying that they'll "never get over what they did" to Bend Studio, Morrison says: "To be fair we didn't make enough substantial progress over the three years I was there. I saw the eventual cancellation coming prior to it."
This live service push should’ve never happened in the first place! It put most of their major studios behind schedule big time.
A big thank you to Jim for this shortsighted, greedy blunder. A half thank you to Herman, because he stupidly kept some of them going.
The PS5 gen has essentially been a bust, though a few gems such as Returnal, Astro Bot, and Steller Blade.
We might not have had unnecessary remasters (Last of Us, Horizon) or remakes (Last of Us, again) if not for this. Alas, with the die already having been cast, we hope for a return to form.
But, along with the current state of the industry, I don't think we will get it.
I disagree. Somy needs to be able to compete in all genre. They have nothing less than studios that do have successful live service games, including MS which is solely focused on service games. Sony had a live service success with Helldivers that people like to not mention in these articles.
I disagree. Sony needs to be able to compete in all genre. They have nothing less than studios that do have successful live service games, including MS which is solely focused on service games. Sony had a live service success with Helldivers that people like to not mention in these articles.
Sony is stupid for thinking live service would work for them. Or anything else they do for that matter.
To work on something for 3 years and say that no substantial progress has been on it seems to be the trend happening across the industry. It's one thing to work without stress or crunch but in 3 years they could've used everything made for Days Gone and had a sequel out by now. Or worked on something smaller that they actually wanted to work on and with actual direction.
Sony was the one telling them to do something different. I don’t blame Bend Studios. It was a lot of pressure pushing live service titles out and it backfired.
DaysGone wasn’t a bad title. It sold pretty well too. It sold 8 million copies on PS4 as of 2021. Almost 2 million on PC as of 2022. I don’t know the remastered version but it sold decent for a game that was already on the PlayStation Catalog.
They should have let them make a sequel. The series was made to be a trilogy.
The canceled game was reportedly using the Decima engine. It would make sense if their next game would be using that. I know DaysGone was using UE4. But if they did make a sequel I would prefer Decima over UE5. But that’s wishful thinking.
I’m not against a Syphon Filter remake. But just give us something memorable.
This is where there's a huge misconception that everyone is still running with. The idea of a sequel wasnt taken off the table, ONE MANS PITCH for a sequel wasnt greenlit, there would definitely be more than one pitch for a sequel
The one man was the former director of Bend Studios. It not being “greenlit” was what I was referring to when they asked if Bend Studios would be interested in making a Syphon Filter game, after they released Days Gone. Don’t understand what was misleading.
https://www.thegamer.com/so...
The misleading part is that studios get several pitches, their could've easily been like 3 separate days gone sequel pitches, just because he's director doesn't mean his pitch couldn't have been lame, i mean he was talking about it being a multiplayer game, that already sounds iffy. But everyone talks as if the idea of a sequel as a whole was dismissed and we just don't know that.
Honestly, who is the Days Gone remaster for? Fans of the original won't find anything new here.
I don't know why you're being downvoted. It is a new thing in the remaster. Perhaps it's not worth the $10 upgrade if you've played. But, I mean, if you never played the game, then just wait for it to go on sale, forget about it, and continue not playing it like you did for the last 6 years?
The downvotes are likely from the excuses... Horde mode doesn't obsolve Sony from cash grabbing its easily duped fanbase.
I love how people call this a money grab while the real money grabbing is in other genres. But, I think people who are that dumb deserve to be fed with skins and micro-transactions, and don’t get to complain that single player games of this caliber are few and far in between.
@TheEroica
they changed the header. it was originally the " Remaster has nothing new" or something similar.
It's still in the description: "Fans of the original won't find anything new here."
Days gone is amazing regardless and for those that didn’t play the original I highly recommend.
Yes. All of Sony's Remasters - all the ones stemming from the PS4 library - are cash-grabs. When all they needed to do was patch them to run at 60fps, up the resolution, and be done with it. But then they had to actually care about Bloodborne, and that's a cardinal sin over at Sony.
On a side note. I just got The Sinking City Remastered for free, because I owned the game. Weird...
I'm sure they banish people to the Nightmare Frontier if they as much as whisper the name in the office.
Cash-grab or not. As long the Bend Studio gets their share, I am for it. I don't know, but I still hope for making of a second title. However, in a way It's a cash-grab. They still put something extra to it (horde mode), that is.
lol Yeah they seem to hate the idea of a new Bloodborne anything.
I've still got to play the shrinking city. I enjoy Lovecraftian stuff.
Hope the recent remasters like Sinking City and Oblivion, ups the ante and alters the industry's approach.
But what fans really want is just a straight up sequel ... oh and add sequel to 1886 as well.
I would love a days gone sequel. Days gone to me is such a better game than the last of us. The world in days gone was so great.
To me they appeal to different players outside of just being zombie games. I like them both, but days gone is more fun to me. The last of us 2 is my murder game though along with red dead 2 and gta 5. Love the realistic violence.
I’m a big fan of Days Gone but TLOU is a better made game. How much you enjoyed each game is of course up to you.
With the recent cancellation of Bend Studio’s live-service project, there’s now a real and exciting opportunity for the studio to revisit Days Gone 2. This might be the perfect time for Sony to greenlight the sequel—especially with the PS6 likely on the horizon—because Days Gone already has a strong foundation, a passionate fanbase, and significant untapped potential.
It’s worth remembering that Days Gone was Bend Studio’s first major AAA title developed for a home console. Before that, the studio had primarily worked on portable systems like the PSP and PS Vita, or acted as a support studio. That leap to a full-scale open-world console game was ambitious, and although the game launched in a somewhat rough state, that context is crucial to understanding its initial reception.
Gaming critics were often harsh in their reviews, frequently comparing Days Gone to other PlayStation exclusives that came from more seasoned console studios like Naughty Dog or Santa Monica Studio. Despite these comparisons and the early technical issues, Days Gone still went on to sell over 7.6 million copies—a remarkable achievement for a new IP. Even more importantly, Bend Studio listened to fan feedback and steadily improved the game through patches, updates, and optimizations. Today, Days Gone stands as a much more polished and enjoyable experience than it was at launch.
That kind of growth shows Bend Studio’s resilience and potential. A sequel would not only benefit from their hard-earned experience, but also avoid many of the pitfalls that affected the original’s development. Much of the foundational tech, gameplay systems, and world-building has already been done, meaning the studio can focus more on innovation and storytelling rather than reinventing the wheel.
Compared to the high-risk, long-development timeline of a new IP—which could take 5+ years just to get through pre-production—returning to Days Gone is both a smarter and more efficient route. If Sony and Bend Studio commit to Days Gone 2 now, there’s a strong possibility it could be a key PS6 launch title—offering a fan-driven, proven IP with greater polish, depth, and scope.
Let’s not forget Bend Studio’s deep legacy either. This is the same team that brought us Syphon Filter, a series that helped define early PlayStation experiences. With the right support and direction, they can absolutely deliver a worthy sequel that lives up to the franchise’s potential and the studio’s legacy
Sammy writes: "Back when Days Gone Remastered was announced, many fans were squinting to see the differences between the excellent original PS4 version and its PS5 re-release.
But now with the game readily available – and our 8/10 review declaring it the “definitive version of a fan favourite” – we’re beginning to get some meaningful tech analysis.
And according to Digital Foundry, this is not just the bare-bones resolution upscale some had anticipated – “a lot of effort has gone into it”, according to the tech experts. "
Sold well and received even better.. had a bad first month due to technical issues but ended up being one of the best games from last gen
That's the nature of the beast. If a game like a movie does not meet certain numbers then they write off the franchise. EA scrapped DS2 because the DS1 remake did not meet certain numbers. I was hoping the remaster of DG and the fact it also came to PC would convince Sony to green light a DG sequel.
Critic reviews were appalling. The worst reviewed game I’ve ever seen. By that I mean, poor quality journalism, dishonest writing and review scores which are out of touch with fan reception.
I like the fact that the zombies are quick and not just stand around or slowly walk. It makes the game seem much more intense. Still don't know if it a day one buy for me yet but it definitely has potential.